Chipcard housing with an ejector and at least one locking arm coupled thereto

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a chipcard housing with an ejector ( 1 ) and at least one locking arm ( 2 ), coupled thereto, characterised in that a gearwheel ( 3 ) is provided for control of the at least one locking arm ( 2 ), which engages in a section ( 4 ) of the locking arm ( 2 ) resembling a toothed rack, whereby the drive for the gearwheel ( 3 ) is achieved by means of a lug ( 5 ) on the ejector ( 1 ) which engages in a crank guide ( 6 ) provided on the gearwheel ( 3 ).

Smart card holders of this type are used when the intention is to hold asmart card in a device for a reading or writing operation and the smartcard must not be removed from the device during the writing or readingoperation on account of the nature of the data it contains.

Such cases arise, for example, when financial transactions areperformed, for example when the smart card is used as a cash card, or inthe case of digital tachographs in which smart cards are used toidentify the driver and/or to store driver- and vehicle-specific data.Since tachographs are generally used for statutory reasons, particularlystringent requirements are imposed in terms of security againstmanipulation, in order to ensure the evidentiary value of the recordeddata. At the start of a journey, the smart card is inserted into thedigital tachograph and locked in the inserted position. The smart cardmust be ejected automatically by the device only when said device isappropriately actuated.

The abovementioned smart card holders preferably operate in asemiautomatic manner, that is to say the smart card is pushed inmanually and the locking arrangement is activated by means of thisinsertion operation. In contrast, the card is unlocked and ejectedautomatically under the control of the device.

The provision of a suitable locking mechanism is an essential measurefor providing the security against manipulation. To date, this lockinghas been performed by means of a track guide which operates two lockingslides. This mechanism is accommodated in a very low overall height. Twohardened pins which run in grooves are riveted to the slides as guideelements for the transverse movement. A further hardened pin is rivetedto the opposite side and the device is actuated for the transversemovement via the tracks using this further hardened pin. A range ofproblems are encountered with this design from the prior art. On accountof two pins being guided in grooves, a large tilting angle is producedeven with low tolerances, for example an angular play of 8° results withan axial distance of 10 mm and a 0.1 mm gap. During operation, theproblems arise of the riveted pins sometimes absorbing relatively highforces and the depth to which the cylinder is pressed in being very low,in particular since another depression for recessing the rivetingarrangement has to be made in this case. Therefore, the pins may comeloose during relatively long-term operation.

Production has been made more costly by the fact that the hardened pinsare not all arranged on one side. Due to this, the part has to bemachined twice, as a result of which manufacturing costs are increased.The riveted arrangements have to be recessed since a very low overallheight is desired for the mechanism and the parts move relative to oneanother and must not get caught on one another in the process. This alsoleads to an increase in costs.

The object of the invention is thus to specify a smart card holder inwhich the locking arrangement is secure against manipulation and at thesame time can be designed in a cost-effective manner. The intention isfor a low overall height to be possible in the process.

According to the invention, this object is achieved by a smart cardholder of the type mentioned in the introduction, which is characterizedin that a gearwheel is provided for controlling the at least one lockingarm and engages in a toothed rack-like section of the locking arms, thegearwheel being driven by means of a lug on the ejector and this lugengaging in a track guide which is provided on the gearwheel.

The smart card holder according to the invention operates advantageouslysince the time response of locking and ejection can be set by means ofthe track guide. In addition, no long tolerance chains are formed by therivets in the guides. The locking arms can be designed as slides andarranged in an arbitrary V shape, as a result of which a relativemovement of the locking slides is produced in the same direction inwhich the card is inserted or, respectively, in which it is ejected,when the smart card holder is closed. The forces which occur are then nolonger absorbed by the rivets but by a solid gearwheel and its bearingpoint, so that the problem of the rivets coming loose can no longeroccur.

The fact that only a single rivet is now necessary is advantageous interms of production. Furthermore, the insertion length on the ejector issignificantly longer than in the case of the riveting according to theprior art. The insertion length can be lengthened with the aid of deepdrawn sections on the sheet metal part, this being possible by the factthat the moving parts no longer slide one over the other in theinventive design of a smart card holder and installation space is thusavailable underneath. Since a plurality of rivets are dispensed with,the manufacturing costs for feeding the rivets into the bores and thesubsequent riveting are also reduced. Since the parts then no longerslide one over the other, the advantage is achieved of burr formation onthe punched parts during punching being less critical. Riveting on thereverse side is likewise no longer necessary.

Advantageous developments of the invention are specified in thesubclaims.

The invention is explained in greater detail below with reference to anexemplary embodiment. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 shows a three-dimensional illustration of a smart card holderaccording to the invention with the smart card fully inserted,

FIG. 2 shows a detailed illustration of the locking mechanism of thesmart card holder from FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 shows the smart card holder from FIGS. 1 and 2 with the lockingarrangement partially open,

FIG. 4 shows the smart card holder from FIGS. 1 and 3 with the smartcard ejected,

FIG. 5 shows a detailed illustration of the locking mechanism in theoperating state of FIG. 3, and

FIG. 6 shows a longitudinal section through the locking mechanism fromFIG. 5.

FIG. 1 shows a three-dimensional view of a smart card holder accordingto the invention. In the operating state illustrated, a smart card 10 isfully inserted into the smart card holder. An ejector 1 is providedwhich is in contact with the smart card 10 by means of the two drivers14, and which can eject the smart card 10 by means of the two drivers14. The ejector 1 is operated by a slide 13 which engages in the ejector1. The slide 13 is in turn operated by means of a drive which is howevernot illustrated and is not a subject of the invention either.

The inserted smart card 10 is locked in the inserted position by meansof two locking slides 2. For this purpose, end sections 11 are providedon the locking slides 2, these end sections being pushed in front of thesmart card 10 in the locked state, and the smart card 10 can thereforeno longer be removed.

The locking slides 2 are driven by means of a gearwheel 3 which has twotoothed regions which engage with toothed rack-like sections 4 of thelocking slides 2. The locking slides 2 are pushed outward by thegearwheel 3 being rotated in the clockwise direction, so that theoverlapping section 11 of the locking slides holding the smart card 10is cleared and the smart card can be removed.

The gearwheel 3 is driven by means of a pin 5 which is arranged at thefront end of the ejector 1 and engages in a track guide 6 which isformed on the gearwheel 3. The interaction between the pin 5 of theejector 1 and the track guide 6 is illustrated in detail in FIG. 2. Thetrack guide 6 has two sections 8 and 9 which are at an angle to oneanother, the first section 8 extending transverse to the ejectiondirection when the smart card 10 is pushed in, as in the caseillustrated. The second track section 9 extends at an angle ofapproximately 120° to the first section 8.

The ejection process in as follows. The pin 5 of the central ejector 1,which is illustrated by dashed lines in FIG. 2 and passes on a forcefrom an ejection gear to the locking system, engages in the firstsection 8 of the track guide 6. In place of a riveted-in pin, as isillustrated, other means can also be used, for example deep-drawnelements on an ejector made from sheet metal, molded-on plastic elementsetc. The sickle-like track guide which is formed by two sections makesit possible for two process steps to be carried out. When the ejector 1is moved in the ejection direction, the pin 5 exerts a force on thegearwheel 3 in such a way that said gearwheel performs a rotarymovement. The teeth of the gearwheel 3 engage in toothed rack-likesections 4 of the locking slides 2 and move said slides outward. Thesmart card 10 is moved outward by a small distance at the same time asthe locking arrangement opens.

Since the locking slides 2 have to cover only a relatively smalldistance compared to the ejection distance of the smart card 10, therotary movement of the gearwheel 3 has to be decoupled from the ejectionmovement after the locking arrangement is completely opened. Thisdecoupling is achieved by the direction of movement of the ejector 1corresponding to the direction of the second section 9 of the trackguide 6 when the locking arrangement is released. After the gearwheel 3is rotated to such an extent that the locking arrangement is opened, thesecond section 9 of the track guide 6 is located over a guide groove 7which runs in the ejection direction and ensures that the ejector 1 ismoved in the ejection direction. When the ejector 1 moves further in theejection direction, force is therefore no longer exerted on thegearwheel 3 and the locking slides 2, so that these remain in theirpositions and at the same time said locking slides 2 are prevented fromslipping inward.

FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate two instants during the ejection of a smartcard 10. In FIG. 3, the gearwheel 3 has already partially rotated andthe locking slides 2 have partially opened. The position of the smartcard 10 in the smart card holder has moved outward by a minimal amount.In FIG. 4, the smart card 10 is already substantially ejected. Thelocking arrangement is completely open, that is to say the lockingslides 2 are in their outermost position. As can be seen from theposition of the pin 5 in the track guide 6, more space is stillavailable for the smart card 10 to be ejected further, so that the smartcard 10 can be easily grasped and extracted by a user.

FIG. 5 shows a detailed illustration of the intermediate position fromFIG. 3. FIG. 6 shows the longitudinal section which runs along thelongitudinal axis A-A marked in FIG. 5. The extremely flat constructionof the locking mechanism can be clearly seen in FIG. 6. In comparison tothe thickness of the smart card 10, the height of the locking mechanismis shown to be approximately 4 mm. A further cover 12 which is alreadyincluded in the height of 4 mm is located beneath the locking mechanism.

When a smart card is inserted, the same steps are performed, but in thereverse order. The smart card 10 is first inserted and, in the process,the ejector 1 is pushed back by means of the drivers 14. Then, when thepin 5 enters the first section of the track guide 6, the smart cardbeing inserted causes the gearwheel 3 to rotate in the counterclockwisedirection and the locking slides 2 are thus moved inward, as a result ofwhich the end sections 11 of the locking slides 2 slide in front of thesmart card 10, so that said smart card is locked in the pushed-inposition and cannot be manually removed. A reading or writing operationbetween the device, to which the smart card holder belongs, and the chipin the smart card can then begin.

1-6. (canceled)
 7. A smart card holder, comprising: an ejector, at leastone locking arm coupled to the ejector and arranged so as to lock asmart card inserted into the holder in a locked pushed-in position, anda gearwheel arranged to control the at least one locking arm, thegearwheel arranged to engage in a toothed rack-like section of thelocking arms and to be driven by a lug on the ejector whereby the lugengages in a track guide provided on the gearwheel.
 8. The smart cardholder according to claim 1, wherein the lug is a pin attached to theejector, extending through the track guide and reaching into a guidegroove on an other side of the track guide, the guide groove running inthe ejection direction.
 9. The smart card holder according to claim 1,wherein the track guide comprises two sections arranged at an angle toone another, the first section running essentially transverse to theejection direction and the lug extending through the first section whenthe smart card is inserted, and the second section running in theejection direction and the lug extending through the second section whenthe smart card is ejected.
 10. The smart card holder according to claim9, wherein the angle between the first and the second sections is in arange of 120° to 135°.
 11. The smart card holder according to claim 1,wherein the gearwheel comprises teeth in two regions running essentiallytransverse to the ejection direction when the smart card is inserted,the teeth arranged to operate a locking arm.